


All Those Who Go Out In Ships

by KivrinEngle



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Eventual Relationships, Found Families, Gen, Multi, Slow Burn, Space Pirates, Team as Family, violence to canon timelines, we're talking glacial pace here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-14 15:23:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11785971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivrinEngle/pseuds/KivrinEngle
Summary: Pike Trickfoot is in danger of losing her ship. Vox Machina needs more work than her crew can afford, until they take on a wealthy passenger who may be able to make their problems go away.But her ragtag crew are bristling with secrets, her ship seems determined to tear itself apart, and their new ally apparently comes with enough problems of his own to jeopardize everything Pike is barely holding together.Her one consolation is that in space, no-one can hear you sigh really, really hard.





	1. Chapter 1

Pike Trickfoot stared at the dull grey bulkhead ten feet in front of her, eyes unseeing. The wide room stretched away on all sides, and the air recyclers moved the fresh air around with an unwelcome efficiency. The chair she was sitting on was too high and deeply uncomfortable, but she didn't move: back straight, hands resting quietly in her lap, eyes forward.

"Miss Trickfoot?" a disinterested voice called, and Pike stood up calmly, brushing her palms down the legs of her trousers. 

"Well, it's Captain Trickfoot, actually," she said pleasantly, turning to face the mousy-looking attendant. She nodded a few times, as if making a mental note, but Pike knew she would have forgotten again an hour later. 

"Well, Captain, Gilmore will see you in the back now," the woman said wearily. She pointed vaguely toward the door in the far wall, and Pike nodded, scraping up a quick smile of thanks before she strode off.

"No bad news today, Gilmore," she said as she entered the diagnostic control room. It was meant to be a joke, but she couldn't conceal the note of pleading in her tone. Please, no bad news.

"I’m sorry, Pike," Gilmore replied. He looked far less exuberant than she was used to seeing him, and Pike’s stomach dropped at the look he shot her. He looked desperately sorry for her. Gilmore ran his hand through his too-long hair and shook his head. "Your stabilizers are near shot, aft thruster is about to go, and you still don't have the required ship to ship armaments installed!"

"I don't need guns," Pike protested. "We go through this every time, Gilmore! I haul ice. Nobody is going to attack me." She huffed a laugh, but there was no humor in it. "I haven't got anything worth stealing." 

"Not my rules, I’m afraid, Captain," Gilmore replied. He dropped his board onto the surface of the nearest bank of instruments and shook his head. "The ship just is not safe, and I can't sign off on her until you get the repairs done. The guns are your lookout, so mind you don't get stopped - but the rest is not optional."

"What'll it cost?" Pike asked, swallowing hard. Her left hand clenched into a ball by her thigh, a silent prayer shooting up unbidden. Please. 

"Parts and labor, plus the registration on a new thruster - you're looking at a thousand. Possibly under, if I can get her in right away."

Pike closed her eyes and breathed out, a deep, controlled exhale. "Gilmore, you know I haven't got that kind of money. I've got four solid runs lined up, though, so I'll be able to pay you back within the year." 

"Don't put me in this position," Gilmore pleaded. He spread his hands, gesturing his helplessness. "You know I can't-"

"Try." It was a quiet command, but he snapped upright, eyes widening.

"I'll see if there’s anything I can do," he muttered, and slipped out of the room, shaking his head. Pike wandered closer to one of the portholes that looked out over the ships in the repairyard, and pressed her nose up against the glass, peering out into the gloom. Vox Machina was the third ship along, anchored under the central spar of the repair station. Lines crawled across her skin, reaching above and below, wrapping her in a tangle of bureaucracy and incompetence that Pike longed to tear through.

She was small and unlovely, when viewed objectively. Vox Machina had been designed and built on Earth forty years earlier, and had more miles on her than Pike cared to consider. Squat, some might call her; garbage was a word for the unkind. But for Pike, Vox Machina was beautiful for what she was.

"-Eighteenth birthday approaches," the falsely cheerful voice on the broadcast was saying, clearly wrapping up a story. "In other news, the Princess of the Kingdom of the Free People is still missing. The king has asked that all law officers be vigilant in searching for her. It is not yet known who is responsible for her kidnapping, though the increase in piracy-"

Pike turned away from the window, blocking out the meaningless chatter as she heard Gilmore's footsteps shuffle back across the floor. He shook his head.

"Sorry, Pike. You've got to understand. Times are tough. I can't be issuing credit to just anyone, and your father-"

"Isn't here!" Pike interrupted, taking a step toward the mechanic and staring up at him, wishing she were more intimidating. "Deal with me, not my father's memory!" 

Gilmore just shook his head, genuine regret evident in his eyes, but Pike knew he wasn't moving. 

"Fine. Give me the papers and I'll sign off that you can't certify her safe." Pike was careful in her movements, refusing to let her frustration show in anything more than the tight grip she held on the pen, knuckles turning white. "If Emon Harbor can't do the work, I'll see what they can do for me in Westruun!"

"I've kept Vox Machina running years longer than you had any right to hope!" Gilmore protested. "She's done, Pike. Let her die."

She didn't even dignify the last with an answer. Carefully placing the paperwork and the pen back on the instrument bank, she walked out of the room with a measured pace, head held high. Pike moved through the waiting area, avoiding eye contact with the captains now idling there, and strode quickly out into the corridor beyond. They would be unhooking Vox Machina now, moving her out to loading; Pike made her way to the other side of the Harbor Station, breathing evenly the whole time.

It wasn't the end of the world. If she could keep the ship together through the next year, four runs out and back, and avoid being stopped or inspected by any of the colonial authorities, they could make it. A year of not planning tight turns or atmospheric approaches. It was possible, if nothing gave out. It wasn't like she had other options - Westruun Harbor wouldn't offer her credit any more than Emon had, and no-one was as good as Gilmore, anyway. She would just have to make do. They would keep their ship going, by whatever means, and she would keep the crew together.

What was left of them, anyway. 

By the time she had made her way across the mile and a bit of the length of the station, Pike had managed to shed the anger that propelled her steps, and she began to feel a knot in her gut instead. She sought Vox Machina out the main viewing window anxiously, feeling an irrational surge of relief as her ship hove into view. The lights of the tugships guiding her into the loading docks were a welcome reminder that, for now, Vox Machina was carrying her own cargo; she was still free.

She didn't know how long she'd been staring out at the lovely sight, Vox Machina arrayed against a backdrop of stars, Ganymede twirling slowly in the distance, when her musings were interrupted. 

"Pardon me, but are you a Captain?"

The voice was cultured and uncertain, and the speaker even more so. Pike glanced at him quickly, then turned back to the window. "Of a sort."

"I'm looking for passage to Vasselheim," the young man said. He stepped closer, his voice low and guarded. "I can pay."

Pike sighed, and pointed out at her beleaguered ship. "See her there? She's mine. She's slow, unarmed, certified unsafe, and I've just lost my pilot and my engineer. You don't want to travel with me."

"Actually, I think I do," the stranger protested. He moved up to the window, staring at the little freighter. "I need to get to Vasselheim, and I-" he hesitated, looked down - "I don't really want a lot of questions. You don't look like you'll ask."

Pike turned around and looked at the boy directly, analytically. He couldn't be more than about seventeen, with the still-round cheeks and soft features of childhood clinging to him like an affliction he was trying to shake. His hair was a shocking, clearly artificial white; Pike didn’t know youth fashion well enough anymore to interpret that choice with any degree of certainty. The boy was dressed in very high-quality clothing, but it was worn and out of style, and short in the wrists and ankles. Almost certainly a runaway, then - and probably on some foolish quest to win a girl's heart. She didn't need the hassle. He flushed under the scrutiny and looked away.

"I don’t know,” she began. “She's not a passenger ship."

The boy looked up sharply, staring at her in turn. "That doesn't mean she can't be. You say she's unsafe?" Pike nodded reluctantly. "I said I can pay. Extra revenue means you can make her safe."

"A thousand," Pike blurted out, regretting it right away. "We're running near Vasselheim anyway." The boy wouldn’t have that kind of money, but the momentary thought of being able to fix her ship made her unreasonable.

"Twelve hundred," her would-be passenger said firmly, "half now and half on arrival, and you don't ask questions." He put out a hand, but Pike hesitated.

"What's your name?"

"That's a question."

"That's the minimum I need," Pike insisted. "I have to file a crew manifesto, and nobody comes aboard my ship if I don't even know who they are."

He hesitated, staring at her through what she now noticed were an unusual set of spectacles, wire-rimmed and adorned with what looked like extra lenses to each side. "Percy," he finally admitted, his voice hardly more than a whisper. 

Pike shrugged. "Good enough." She shook his hand firmly, and he pulled away from the contact after a moment. "Get your things - we leave in three hours."

"I don't have things," Percy declared, and she shook her head.

"Don't think of this as prying, but - am I going to have to deal with vengeful parents coming after you?"

The boy laughed, sharp and hard, and shook his head. Pike didn't ask any further. In her pocket, her hand clenched around her little holy symbol, and she sent up a quick and fervent prayer, hoping that she hadn’t just made a bigger mess of things.

There might have been a brief flicker of warmth in response. Then again, maybe it was just her imagination.


	2. Chapter 2

"Afternoon, all!" Pike declared, marching onto the bridge with a paper-wrapped package under one arm. "Are we ready to get underway?"

Scanlan poked his head out from under a console, cheerful face streaked with dirt. "Almost, Captain. We're loaded and stocked, and all crew are present and accounted for. Well. What’s left of them, anyway.” He jumped to his feet, wiping his hands on an old bit of cloth. “We're waiting for permission from Harbor Control. And may I say, Captain, how very lovely you're looking today?”

She ignored the impropriety, as ever. "Got it. And the twins are hard at work, I hope?"

"Course is plotted!" Vex said, darting across the room, a blur of messy dark hair and a bright, flashing grin. "Let me fly, and we'll be free as birds!"

"Sarenrae have mercy," Pike murmured, and Scanlan huffed a laugh of agreement. "A word, Scanlan?"

The first mate followed her to a quiet corner of the main deck, crowded and worn like the rest of the ship, but with enough noise to cover their conversation a bit. 

"We've got repair issues, but we knew that," Pike started quietly. "They're - well, it's not good. We're taking on a passenger to cover the costs, but the money won't be available until he's safe in Vasselheim."

"We're not a passenger ship, Pike!" Scanlan protested, keeping his voice low. "We don't have a cabin made up for him!"

"Well, we’ll just make do," she said, trying to be reassuring. "If we want to keep flying, we'll have to. What I need from you, though, is a background check. I promised not to ask questions, but this young man clearly has secrets, and he's running from something. I don't want us to get caught in the middle of some mess that will lead to our papers being checked - because as of now, we're officially unsafe, as well as running without arms."

Scanlan rubbed his hands across his face and through his dark hair, shaking his head. "Royal mess we've got here. Not to sound doubting, oh most glorious captain, but I'm also concerned about our crewing issues."

"They can do their jobs, Scanlan," Pike assured him. "They're good." She laughed a little, face scrunching up into a crinkle of wry amusement. "It's not like we've got replacements beating down our doors!"

"No," Scanlan admitted, sighing slowly. "No, we haven't." He twisted his head from side to side, working out the kinks in his neck. "I'll look into our passenger's background, see if there are any flags out on him yet. What do we do if he's a fugitive?"

"See who it is who wants him, and then decide who we hate more?" Pike suggested, and Scanlan grinned, impossibly brilliant. "The only name I got out of him was Percy, which probably won't help much. He's got to be in his teens, but anything more is just a guess."

Scanlan stilled, his face freezing for a stuttering second. It was an unusually intense look of concentration, even for her dedicated first mate, and Pike wondered about it - but it passed as quickly as it had come, and he nodded. "Percy. Right. I can't promise you a miracle, but I can probably find something."

She nodded her thanks, and clapped his upper arm as she moved past him, back onto the open bridge. Vex was upside-down across her chair, feet dangling in midair and head brushing the floor as she worked on the underside of the pilot's console, presumably wiring something else to be just a bit faster, tighter, more responsive. 

"Set anything on fire this time and you'll be cooking dinner," Pike warned as she passed, and Vex snorted.

"Please! That was at least a week ago!"

"And sit like a person!" Pike added, shoving her feet to one side. Vex toppled to the floor inelegantly, and glared up at her with mock outrage that couldn't hide the amusement dancing in her hazel eyes. "I live with monkeys," Pike grumbled. 

“And we love you!” Vex called back in an impudent sing-song, already half-buried in her console again. 

Pike shook her head, grinning, and left the main room, ducking into the narrow corridor that connected the rooms aboard the ship. 

The design might not have been elegant, but it was livable. She trailed her hand across the bulkhead as she walked, feeling the reassuring solidness of the cold metal. If the main control room was the center of action, then the corridors were the sinews of the ship, holding her together. They were narrow and dark, but seemed to pulse with life. She ducked into the medical bay, and knocked on the doctor's door.

"I will not exit this room until we are undocked and all precautions have been taken!" Tiberius’ voice was sharp with annoyance, and Pike bit back a smile.

"I'm aware, Doctor. I wanted to drop off the supplies you asked for."

"Leave them by the door, and tell that young fool not to jar the ship on takeoff. If things are ruined, she'll be as sorry as the rest of us."

"I'll warn her," Pike agreed. "Also, we're taking on a passenger. Once we're underway, I'd like you to look him over to be sure he's not carrying anything dangerous."

"I am not in the habit of allowing strangers into my sickbay!" Tiberius shot back. "If he's from the government-"

"Doctor, we have had this argument on fourteen separate occasions now," Pike interrupted. "I'm leaving now, so feel free to continue on your own. I'll send our passenger to you later."

"Fine," Tiberius growled after a moment. "And don't forget to run the decontamination filters before you sound the all clear!"

Pike hummed in agreement, and set the paper-wrapped package securely against his sealed door. If Vex’s maneuvering destroyed any of the precious medical components, she'd have it out of the girl’s hide. She moved on down the corridor, making for the engines.

The engine room was the most impressive part of the ship, that much was certain. Where the ceilings in the other rooms were a comfortable foot over everyone’s head, the walls of the engine room stretched away up into the sky, vanishing from view where they met the clear domed ceiling, so that it looked like the stars themselves might fall in. The engines were tall and straight, reaching up into the blackness above them. 

But she wasn't allowed even a minute to stare up and contemplate her ship. "Captain! Is something wrong?"

"Hey, Vax," she said with a reassuring smile, turning to face her young engineer. "No, everything's fine. Just making the rounds before we get Harbor permission to leave. Is everything in order here?"

Vax appeared out of the darkness, nodding earnestly, obviously trying to stand a little straighter. "I just got the reports from Emon Harbor Maintenance, but I saw that you'd already signed them, so I didn't worry about those issues. The masts are rigged and ready, so we're in good shape!" 

Pike nodded, both relieved and concerned by his trust in her ability to handle the major mechanical problems of the ship. "Are you ready for this?" she asked, keeping her tone neutral. Vax blinked.

"I hope so," he said honestly. The two might have been twins, but Pike thought that Vex and Vax couldn't have looked less alike at that moment. They shared the same long, dark hair and high cheekbones, but Vex’s easy confidence was nowhere to be seen in Vax’s dark eyes. "I've done my best to be prepared, and I passed the exams, and Kima said I was ready to take over. You wouldn't have given me the position if I weren't, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't." She nodded firmly, approvingly. "You're ready - and what's more, you're prepared. And you’ve got Grog, of course. He’ll help you out if there are any problems.”

“Ah,” Vax said, suddenly turning a strange shade of red. "Maybe let’s try not to send him down here for a little while?”

“Your prank war again?” No wonder he’d been hiding. She shouldn’t be amused by it, honestly. It was the last thing her poor, beleaguered ship needed - the engineer and the sailing master constantly after one another with childish pranks that sometimes went too far. Her lips twitched up anyway as she recalled how frantically young Vax had sped through the ship to stop Grog broadcasting any more of the contents of the boy’s personal log. Some days, she was wildly grateful to be able to laugh at their antics. 

“It’s not permanent, I swear. I can fix it, if he’ll let me try without strangling me!” Vax said defensively. 

“Sort it out between yourselves. I leave the engines in your hands." She turned away, and smirked as she heard Vax give a sigh of relief. Without turning around, she called back as she left the room, "But you might want to remember that they're called engines, not masts, and you might want to wipe the grease off your face." 

“My sister-” he called after her, and Pike waved a hand back at him, not bothering to look. 

“Is fine and well, and will probably strangle you if you bother her right now. Worry about yourself for now.”

She checked her watch as she ducked back into the narrow corridor, noting that her passenger should be coming aboard by then. Pike picked up the pace as she climbed the ladder to the upper level of the ship. She marched past the hydroponics bay without her usual look in, reasoning that nothing could possibly have gone wrong in the hours she had been gone - not with Tiberius locked away in his rooms. Passing the crew cabins, Pike let her fingers trail across the doors - a silent prayer for her people.

If Sarenrae wasn’t entirely through with listening to a Trickfoot, anyway. 

Vox Machina was still docked with Emon Harbor, and Pike wrestled with the aging mechanisms of the door, manually shoving it open. As it cleared the lintel, she saw a blur of motion as Percy jumped to his feet from where he had been sitting on the floor.

"We didn't hear you knock," Pike said, bemused.

"Oh, I didn't. You said you'd open it for me at this time, and I just.” He paused, gesturing vaguely with one hand. “I figured you must be terribly busy getting ready to go." He smiled easily, as though waiting for long periods of time on cold cement floors was nothing. Pike shook her head, and stepped back, letting him aboard. 

"I'll show you to your cabin, as soon as I've closed this thing," she said, gesturing at the door. Percy stepped further into the ship, pressing his back against the bulkhead as she began to drag the huge metal slab back in place. It was even more difficult than the opening had been, and she glanced over her shoulder, looking for a bit of help. Sometimes being short and lacking anything like a decent reach was a real pain. Her new arrival was watching intently, clearly torn between staying where he was and darting forward to help. "You could give me a hand!" Pike called. 

"Yes, sorry! Sorry," Percy babbled, rushing forward. With an extra set of hands, the door was closed and sealed in a moment, and Pike blew out a long breath. 

"Right, let's go." She marched forward, and listened until the rush of footsteps behind her indicated that the youngster was following. "You'll get to know the ship fairly quickly, since there's not much to see. Crew cabins, galley, and hydroponics are on this level, and everything else is down. We're not a luxury liner, so there's not much everything to be seen." She stopped at the first door, the only unoccupied cabin, and tried to open the door. The mechanism turned, but the door jammed, and she kicked the bottom corner with a swift force that jerked it free. "This room happens to be free because our ship's doctor is a bit of a hermit, and prefers to stay in the medical bay. I advise you to leave him alone as much as possible."

The room was identical to the rest - small and square, with a low ceiling, and a tiny desk and chair bolted into one corner. With two people, there was little room to move around. Pike yanked open the wall compartment and gestured to it. "Your chest - though you don't seem to have much to put in it. You'll find your hammock here, and I expect you can figure out how to rig it up. It's not much, but it's the same as the rest of the crew's."

"No, it's fine!" Percy said quickly, as though driven by instinct to smooth over any awkwardness with formalities and politeness. "Really fine! It's a lovely ship!" 

Pike snorted. "I know what she is." He ducked his head, clearly chastened, and she felt a little mean. "Well, if you've not got anything to stow here, come along. I'll show you the rest of the sights." He followed her out of the little room, and they continued down the hall, past all the crew cabins. She pointed out the facilities and the hydroponics bay, whose normal state of sad disarray seemed much worse as she was showing it to a stranger. 

The lower deck was beginning to hum with voices as they emerged from the ladder, and Percy looked around, fascinated. Or was it wary? Pike cleared her throat. "Permissions to depart must have come through. We'll skip the rest of the tour for now, but you can come along to the bridge if you stay out of the way."

"I'm good at that," Percy said with dark cheerfulness, and kept himself close behind Pike as she hurried forward. She stepped onto the bridge - and nearly fell flat on her face as her foot caught on a sleek black figure in the doorway. 

"Damn it, Vex!" Scanlan bellowed, hurrying over to offer Pike a gallant, if unnecessary, arm. "Can't you keep your cat contained?"

Vex spun her chair around, peering over the consoles to look at her. "Is he out again? Must've forgotten to check this morning. Sorry!"

"That animal is a menace," Scanlan grumbled, watching Pike’s steps carefully as she made her way to her favored position in the middle of the bridge. 

"That’s not fair! Trinket’s adorable! And anyway, just tell him loudly that he's a lovely darling kitty who needs snuggle time, and I guarantee you won't see him again for a day or two," Vex said with a grin, which turned a bit feral when she caught sight of their passenger. "Besides, looks like I'm not the only one who's been bringing strays aboard!"

"You ARE a stray!" Pike muttered, still feeling off-guard thanks to the near-accident with Trinket. "Everyone, this is Percy. He'll just be with us as far as Vasselheim."

Everyone turned to stare, and Percy turned an interesting shade of magenta; Pike thought he might try to melt into the floor if he could. He cleared his throat a few times, but clearly didn't have anything to say. Pike took pity on him and stepped forward, gathering their attention. 

"Scanlan, pass the word for the doctor. Please assure him that we have run all the necessary checks, and the decontamination procedures are complete." Scanlan nodded and ducked out of the room, head lowered farther than it needed to be to clear the lower ceiling in the corridors. "Vex, get your brother - and mine. We'll do this properly." Vex tossed off a sloppy salute with a crooked smile, and dashed out. Pike counted to ten, and reminded herself that grounding her pilot for minor breaches of protocol would be less than wise.

"Ever seen a proper embarkation ceremony?" Pike asked Percy, and he looked up, eyes wide.

"No, nothing like one! I've not really been out of the passenger compartments before."

"Then stay and watch, but do please keep quiet." Percy nodded agreement and pushed himself a bit farther back in a corner of the bridge. Vex came bounding back with Vax in tow; the latter was still surreptitiously scrubbing at his clean, pink face. Grog followed just behind, arms crossed, with a glower that spoke poorly of Vax’s near future. Pike gave him a quelling look, but it only took the edge off, and Grog gave a grunt of dissatisfaction as he came around to stand beside her, a warm, comforting presence looming over her shoulder. The twins took up positions at Pike's left, mere inches apart, and settled down quickly, snapping into strangely formal positions that she hadn't noticed in them before. Ceremony wasn't observed everywhere - Pike usually didn't bother, but for this unusual voyage, with so much on the line, it seemed like the right time.

It took another minute, but Scanlan reappeared a moment later, courteously keeping a slow pace for the sake of the elderly doctor. 

"You ran the filters?" Tiberius demanded as he stepped onto the bridge, and Pike gave a quick nod. 

"We've done it all, Doctor."

"Did you, err, catch the nanobots this time?" he asked, voice sharp. Pike didn't crack a smile.

"Not that the scans have told us," she said seriously. "I don't think Emon is the most likely Harbor for government nanobot infestation anyway. Now, when we dock in Vasselheim ports-"

"Hells, no!" Tiberius huffed. "Why would we go to Vasselheim?"

"We have a passenger to drop there," Scanlan said calmly, gesturing at Percy. Tiberius didn't bother to turn and look, instead focusing a glare on Pike through the little glasses perched high on his nose. "You needn't worry, Doctor. We'll keep you well clear of everything there." 

"Heard that before," the doctor complained. "Well, let's get on with it then. It's about time you did a proper embarkation, young lady. Flying about without - it's unholy." Scanlan and Tiberius took up positions to Pike's right, the six remaining members of her crew forming a semicircle. Trinket pressed himself up against Vex’s leg to watch. Pike nodded, and they stood still for a long moment. With due ceremony she removed the little flask of spirits from her pocket and poured a few drops out on the deck, and offered the supplication, voice steady.

"Oh Gracious Lady, who watches over those without guide, who heals those without hope: Everlight, who guides us to redemption, receive into your protection all those who go out in ships and occupy their business in the deeps. Preserve them in body and soul, prosper their vessel with good success. In all times of danger, be their defense, and bring them safe to some fair haven." The silence stretched for a long moment, and Pike reached out for the warmth she once remembered, the sign that Sarenrae had heard her prayer. 

It got so cold, in space.

"Lady, be good to us," the others replied into the silence, hushed and solemn voices filling in the gap, "for the skies are so wide, and our ship so small."

"Amen," Pike finished. A shiver went down her back that had nothing to do with divinity. They stood silent for a moment longer, then moved away to their positions, a new kind of quiet spreading with them. 

Emon Harbor sent the approval for departure mere minutes later, and Vex took them out, banking to port rather enthusiastically. Pike was fairly certain she could hear Tiberius growling angry complaints from half a ship away. Scanlan was watching Vex's calculations and basic flight closely, without being obvious, and Pike nodded to herself and left them to it. Grog had chased Vax away, back toward the engine room, but from the responsiveness of the solar sails Pike knew they were both hard at work within moments. The feel of the engines thrumming through the deck was enough to tell Pike that they were working beautifully, drawing them on toward their goal. Pike checked the readings on several terminals, checking all systems, and Vox Machina picked up speed.

It had been nearly an hour underway, nearing the change of watch, before Pike remembered the observer in the corner. She turned to see that he was still in the same place, watching everything with a look of distracted fascination. She wandered over and took up a place next to him, emulating his posture, and waited. His attention shifted to her after a long, quiet moment.

"This is - this is amazing," Percy confided quietly. "I mean, I've been on plenty of ships, but never got the chance to see how anything works. So many moving parts!"

"It can be very invigorating," Pike agreed.

"That embarkation ceremony you did-" Percy began, and hesitated. She raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. "It's been a long time since I saw anyone praying. I didn't think that was done anymore."

"You've been on the passenger ships and on the colonies?" Pike guessed. At his affirmative, she nodded understanding. "We operate very differently on long-range ships. We're slow, and we're out in the dark, all alone, most of the time. Passenger ships, it's a day here and there between worlds, or safe in the middle of a convoy." She nodded to the navigational board, where their course had been carefully marked. "It'll be weeks or months, sometimes, before we see anything but the black. Not everyone on this ship is really religious, and I doubt any two of us believe the same things, but you need something to cling to. You don't stay an atheist long out here in the dark."

Percy looked away at that, something too old and dark in his eyes, and Pike’s fingers found her little holy symbol, pressing it tightly between fingers that remembered its contours well.

Sarenrae, be good to us, she thought. 

There was no warmth to be felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, you guys. I really appreciate it, and the encouragement you've offered already.


	3. Chapter 3

Pike made a point of sending Percy along to see the doctor a few hours after launch, though she knew that Scanlan was likely to make fun of her for being paranoid about germs. The realities of living in such tight quarters dictated caution, though; they were already likely to have a wave of minor illnesses just from their limited contacts with the inhabitants of Emon Harbor. Having a complete stranger aboard ship meant exposure to a whole new world of disease.

An hour or so later, Tiberius sent a medical report directly to her console, and Pike scanned it rapidly, then left the bridge without a word. She made her way directly to the medical bay and stepped inside, but did Tiberius the courtesy of knocking at his office door.

"There had better be blood," Tiberius called warningly, and Pike shook her head. 

"No blood, Doctor - not this time. Just a few questions."

"If they're important enough to disturb an old man at his slumber, then by all means come in." 

She pushed the door open gently and stepped inside, her nose immediately reacting to the competing smells of disinfectant and the myriad of fragrant ingredients the doctor kept on hand for treating various illnesses aboard ship. It was a confusing sensation, but one that Pike always found somewhat comforting. She smiled at Tiberius, who was seated comfortably in his lumpy old armchair nursing a cup of tea.

"Doctor, you've been using that same line for nearly a decade now, and never once have I found you actually asleep," she said teasingly, pulling out the battered wooden chair that had been her place in his office since the day they had entered the ship together. 

"And for a decade now, your interruptions have kept me from sleeping," he complained, shaking his head at her. "If you knew how many of these white hairs were your fault-"

"None of them!" Pike denied, laughing. "You were white as the fabled snows the day we met!"

He huffed at her, the wrinkles of his face all seemingly set into a permanent frown. "That's not how I remember it. I'll thank you to have more respect for the memories of your elders, young woman."

She sobered, sitting up straighter. "I have nothing but respect for your memories and your medical advice, Doctor - which is why I'm here. I just looked over your report on our passenger."

"I suspected as much."

"I'm afraid I need more information," she continued. "You advise that we not carry him aboard the ship, but with no reason given. From the rest of the medical report, he didn't seem to pose a threat." She pulled up a copy of the report again on the console at Tiberius's desk, and scrolled through it quickly. "Up to date on vaccinations, not carrying any major communicable diseases, and he's been through strict decontamination procedures at Emon. What medical risk does he represent?"

"Did I say he was a medical risk?" Tiberius asked brusquely. "I was only able to obtain a fractional medical record, and he declined to provide me with most of the information I wanted. He refuses to give his surname or identity numbers so I could access his records. We don't know what kind of a threat he might be, medical or otherwise."

Pike cocked her head, watching her old friend for a long moment. "This isn't a medical thing, is it?” He stayed silent, and she pressed on. “Tiberius, I know you too well for this. You never give me answers this vague on medical issues - which means something else is going on, and I really need to know what it is. If you've just reached your quota of teenagers aboard ship, then let me assure you that you are not the only one!"

He waved a hand dismissively. "No, no. As offensive as these impetuous young people are, it's not a reason to bar his entry to the ship, I suppose." Tiberius paused for a minute, somehow more vulnerable than Pike thought she'd ever seen him. "I'd like to ask this as a personal favor, Captain. I don't want the boy aboard, even though I can't justify removing him for medical reasons."

Pike sighed, and ran her hands over her face, then rested her elbows on his desk. "You know I'd like to grant you that favor, Tiberius," she said gently. "Sarenrae knows you deserve it a thousand times over after everything you've done for me, but I'm afraid I'm out of options. Without Percy’s money, we'll be dead in the water in weeks, maybe less. We can’t keep flying without work that I simply cannot afford." Tiberius closed his eyes, and leaned his head back against his chair. He looked utterly weary. "Has he done something to hurt or offend you?" Pike asked, and pushed herself upright. "I swear I will straighten him out, paying passenger or no!"

"He's not the offending party," the doctor said, with a raspy whisper of a laugh. "No, Pike, don't worry yourself." He seemed to dismiss her with that, and Pike stood and backed up a few steps until her hand was on the door, then paused.

"Doctor, you know something you’re not saying. Is there anything I should know about Percy? He's clearly brimming with secrets, and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that aboard my ship."

Tiberius laughed again, not bothering to open his eyes. "My girl, if you can show me one person on this ship who is not burdened with secrets, I shall give up doctoring and take up crochet." Pike didn't laugh. On a ship as small as Vox Machina, there was no room to go prying into other people's secrets; it didn’t mean she didn’t know people were hiding things. The twins reeked of secrecy, and there were huge sections of Scanlan’s life she would never allow herself even to wonder about. Grog was the only one she was certain wasn’t hiding anything from her, and that certainty came from half a lifetime of shared experiences plus the fact that he couldn’t lie to save his life. 

She left the office without a word and made her way back through the corridors slowly, feeling as though the shadows were a bit deeper than usual.

The next few days were an exercise in uncertainty. Vex and Vax were trying to settle into their roles, both aware that they were filling imposing shoes. Vex nearly hit another ship, an imposing lump of space-rock, and several bits of manmade debris within a period of six hours, and Pike had to force her to stand down and rest for a few hours. Vax was hardly to be seen - although given the kid’s sneakiness, that wasn’t actually a huge change. 

Having a passenger aboard was a strange experience for Pike, though, and not one she was certain she could ever come to enjoy. Even though Percy didn't seem inclined to pry or interfere in her business, it was still unsettling to have someone on her ship who wasn't crew.

After the launch, Percy seemed to vanish for a day or two. It was a relief at first not to have to worry about their passenger getting into trouble, but eventually it became a worry in and of itself, and Pike went looking for him. Some unwanted instinct urged her to check in with him, and she gave Scanlan a warning glare when he grinned knowingly at her as she left the main deck. There weren’t that many places for people to disappear aboard ship; when she’d peered into the galley and the hydroponics area with no luck, and determined that Percy was unlikely to be with the doctor, given Tiberius's apparent dislike of their visitor, Pike headed to engineering.

"Vax?" she called, peering through the tall lengths of the engines, looking for her engineer. He gave an incomprehensible shout in response, and she waited for a moment, until he appeared around the edge of the nearest engine, emerging suddenly into view.

"Uh, hi? Can I help with something?"

"I'm looking for Percy," Pike said, frowning a bit. "Have you seen him at all?"

"I think I passed him on the way into the showers last night, but I was dead on my feet," Vax said thoughtfully. He passed a hand through his hair, leaving a distinct trail of grease behind. "Other than that, no. Why do you need him?"

"It's not really need. It's just strange to me that he's vanished so completely."

"Maybe not that strange? He might just be a private sort of person,” Vax suggested with a shrug. "He didn't seem especially eager to make friends."

"He's here as a passenger, not our new best friend," Pike replied. "But if you see him, it might not hurt to make sure he's eating and whatnot. I don't want to get to Vasselheim and have to explain why I've got a corpse along as cargo." Vax raised his eyebrows at that, and Pike shook her head. "You know what I mean. Just keep an eye out, if you would."

"I will," he agreed, and then hesitated. "Uhhh. Do you think you could please tell Vex for me that Valerian's just been disowned? She'll know who I'm talking about."

"I'm not your postal service," she warned.

"I know! It's just that some news should be given by a person, not a disembodied voice, you know?" He was so earnest that Pike relented.

"Yes, I do know. I'll tell her."

"Thanks!" Vax called, scampering back toward the masts with a new lightness in his step.

“Hey, Pike.” Grog’s deep, rumbling voice made Pike smile instinctively, and she reached back to pat his arm without looking. “Are you sure we need him alive?”

“Pretty sure, yeah,” she said, trying to keep the amusement from her voice. “You’re the best there is at the business of solar sails, but you’re no better than me at the fiddly little bits. We need him.”

Grog grunted acknowledgement, and stretched massively, muscles rippling. “I am pretty amazing with the sails,” he said humbly. “D’you think I could at least push ‘im off the masts a little bit? When he really needs it?”

“Well, I don’t know. That might make it a bit hard for him to keep working, and then we won’t keep flying.”

Grog nodded, thinking hard. “He keeps poppin’ up out of nowhere and startling me!”

“Put a bell on him,” Pike advised. “Or find him more to do around here. Sounds like both of you could do with less free time!” 

Grog just grunted again. Vax, however, seemed to take her words to heart, because the next time she wandered down to engineering, fairly early the next day, he wasn't alone. She hung back in the door, feeling rather ridiculous, and watched the boys interact. Percy was watching intently as Vax worked on the engines, hanging from a tangle of lines that he had rigged to allow himself access to all parts of the engines. It was far from a textbook configuration, but it seemed to get the job done, so Pike hadn't put a stop to it. She was fairly certain he was going to kill himself that way one day, but so far, it was working for them.

"So this is what you do for fun?" Percy asked, glancing up and adjusting his spectacles. Pike thought he looked skeptical.

"Well, it's what I do, anyway," Vax called down. "It's more fulfilling than fun, really. Fixing things - making them better, keeping us going - it means I've got something to do. Keeps everyone safe, too, doesn’t it?"

Percy looked down, toeing the deck plates with a worn shoe. "It's certainly not much fun to not have a purpose," he said. It sounded like a confidence. "Or worse - to have one, and not be able to do anything about it."

Vax looked thoughtful, reaching up above his head to tinker with the wiring, tightening the connection. "No, it really isn't."

"Could I maybe help you out?" Percy asked, reaching out to brush his fingers against some dangling parts of what had once been Pike’s engines. "I've not got much experience, but I know a lot of theory. I’ve - tinkered with a few things, here and there."

Vax laughed. "Nothing glamorous or big on theory around here! I mostly just keep things from falling apart. You can pitch in any time you'd like. It's not much, but it's something to do."

"If it gets me through the next few weeks without dying of boredom, it'll be enough! I've got too much time on my hands," Percy said. Pike decided she ought to put some thought into finding Percy a job aboard ship, if he was that bored. There was always work that could be done. 

Vax finished up the section and scrambled down the ropes, hopping lightly to the deck. "And what about after that? Where are you headed after you leave us?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet." He picked up a bundle of tangled wires, starting to pick at the mess. "I've got something I need to find and I'm not really certain where to start working. Vasselheim's got the biggest databanks, so I'm hoping to be able to get a clue there."

Vax shuddered a little. "No offense, but I'll be glad to see the back of Vasselheim! My sister and I aren't keen on all the attention you get at their harbors."

Percy nodded. "I'm not a big fan, either. I'm hoping I can sort of keep to myself and get out of there quickly." 

"Talk to me before you go," Vax said conspiratorially. "There are ways you can blend in, avoid attention. Keep away from the patrols." He looked down at Percy, and his face tightened. "Make yourself look older. You don't want to be out there looking vulnerable."

Pike turned away at that, creeping away from the door before she was noticed. The idea of Percy poking around in danger was unpleasant, certainly, but she hardly knew him, and he wasn't her problem. Vax, on the other hand, was crew, and she'd had him aboard for a year now. The bleakness of his expression and the knowing way he talked about being vulnerable made her a little sick to her stomach. 

"You can't save them all, Pike," Scanlan commented as she walked past, and she was grateful to have a first mate who knew her well enough to make the comment, even if she didn't appreciate the sentiment.

"I'm not trying to save anyone," she retorted. It was almost true.


	4. Chapter 4

Trust was not always the greatest strength of Vox Machina’s crew, Pike would be the first to admit. There was reason for that; the cold, silent image of Sarenrae in her pocket was testimony enough for her. So it was that she found herself surprised to see that Vax wasn't the only one who took a liking to their passenger. 

Once Percy had mustered the courage to leave his cabin and join the crew, and no longer tried to hide himself away in inconspicuous corners of the bridge to watch their activities, it wasn't long before Vex found herself with a shadow at the pilot's console. Pike watched them from a distance as she worked on rewiring the subspace radio to pick up a wider band, amusement warring with incredulity that she now had so many very young people aboard her ship. She had to remind herself she had barely more than a decade on them in years; they might as well have been children in her eyes. It was enough to make her feel positively ancient.

"So you have to operate these pedals and levers, and also be manipulating this whole set of controls, and fly her manually - all while following your navigational plan?" Percy asked skeptically, staring down at the dizzying array of controls the pilot had to manage. Vex nodded, more than a little proud.

"Allura - she's the old pilot - amazing woman, she was here for years and years until she went away to get married - she always said that you can't teach flying. You've either got the feel for it or you haven't."

"How did you know you had the feel?" Percy reached out, trailing curious fingers over some of the gleaming controls. Pike had the feeling he’d be taking things apart in a heartbeat if it were allowed.

Vex shrugged. "I didn't! I made a nuisance of myself everywhere I went, trying to see how it was done. I just knew I had to fly." She grinned over her shoulder conspiratorially. "The first time I flew anything, I was eight. I snagged a lawman's hoverbike while he was looking the other way, and just went!"

Percy's eyes were wide, and he returned Vex's smile, though more cautiously. "And you could fly it?'

"Only a bit," Vex admitted. "I took it too high, and lost control after a minute. If Vax hadn't been running along after me to catch me when I fell, it could have been really messy." She put his nose up suddenly, affecting Tiberius's tone and posture perfectly. "Let that be a lesson to you, young man, and mend your ways!"

Percy snorted at that, and it quickly turned into a wild laugh that he tried to stifle behind both hands. Vex held the affectation for a second longer, then collapsed in laughter as well, peals of amusement that rang out through the ship.

"That doesn't sound much like work to me!" Pike called, stern tones at odd with her own amusement. 

"We're ever so hardworking, darling!" Vex shot back, laughter still in her voice. "I'm imparting moral tales to impressionable youth!"

"No corrupting the passengers," Scanlan intoned through the intercom, from where he was helping Vax inventory the supplies. "Penalty of twelve lashes, and then you walk the plank."

Vex immediately stopped laughing at that, face going dark and more than a little sullen. "That's not funny," she said flatly. 

"Of course it is!" Vax called back. "Don't lose your sense of humor."

Vex's face cleared a bit, and Pike watched as Percy folded his arms uncomfortably, clearly anxious to change the subject. "So how did you end up a pilot here?" he asked after a minute, face clearing as he diverted the pilot onto a new topic. "Aren't you awfully young to be flying a ship?"

"Ahh, we've got the Captain to thank for that!" Vex tipped her head back until she was nearly upside down again, and tossed Pike a salute. "Vax and I had been around a ship or two, but we hadn't found anywhere to settle. We slipped off the last ship at Westruun, and we were a bit desperate by that point."

That was an understatement, Pike thought, remembering the desolate, battered kids she had picked up at Westruun that day. There was no reason she ought to have taken them on, but they had been so obviously in need, and Vax had sworn up and down that they would work hard. It had been one of the best decisions she had ever made.

"So Vax spotted the Captain coming off the little old Vox Machina," Vex was continuing, "and he thought it was worth a try. The masts were the same models he was familiar with, so he could offer some real help - and I was sort of a tagalong, but I said I would do anything aboard ship. She took us on as apprentices."

"And you were the apprentice pilot?" Percy asked, engrossed in the tale. Vex snorted.

"Of course not! Who in their right mind would let me fly? No, I was supposed to be a Healer, and work with old Tiberius."

"Show some respect!" Scanlan hollered. Vex rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I didn't do that. Respect has never been my strong point, and he threw me out after two days."

"Leaving me to do twice the work, in hopes that we wouldn't be tossed out the airlock!" Vax said loudly, and Vex stuck out her tongue uselessly, since her brother wasn't in sight. 

"So, I attached myself to Allura and made a complete nuisance of myself until she started explaining everything, and eventually began letting me try things out a little at a time." Vex smiled - not the bright, cocky grin Pike usually saw, but a sweeter look of contentment. "And I was good at it. Really good. She let me do more and more - basically let me apprentice for a year, and then she told Pike to let me be the pilot when she left us - just back at Emon, actually, when we were picking you up. So I've only been pilot for-" she checked the chronometer "-three days now, and I haven't hit anything yet!"

"I think prayer is the only reason for that small mark of success," Pike muttered.

"And this is why we love our Captain," Vex said cheerfully. "She's an unending fountain of support and encouragement!"

"No, she's a soft touch for strays," Pike corrected. "For which fact you should all be grateful."

"We are," the twins said in soberingly sincere unison, and Pike looked down, embarrassed. It was one thing to joke about gratitude, but she'd never been good at hearing it addressed to her. 

"And Vax's been the engineer for the same amount of time?" Percy asked. Vex nodded.

"Apprenticed to Kima, who was the engineer, until she left at Emon too." She grinned conspiratorially. "For the same reason, as well. Kim's and Allura actually ran off to get married! They’d been together for ages and ages - since long before we we joined the ship, and they didn't think anyone knew about it."

Pike shook her head. "Just because I like to let you people have some privacy doesn't mean a captain doesn't know what's going on aboard her ship!"

"That sounds like a challenge!" Scanlan said with a laugh. "Here's one for you, Captain! Did you know that Trinket was just sick again, behind the water tanks? Violently?"

Pike sat bolt upright and glared at Vex, who shrugged. "Hey, it's news to me, too!"

"But I thought Trinket was in your quarters!" Pike protested, and was aware that the snickers coming from the other end of the com were at her expense. "Why would you bring a cat aboard my ship who gets space-sick?"

Vex threw her arms up dramatically. "I didn't know either! And he is a stray, after all!" Percy seemed to be trying not to laugh with the rest, turning red with the effort of suppressing laughter. 

"Fine," Pike said, radiating displeasure. "But you're responsible for the mess, and if he doesn’t get a handle on his stomach, I’m putting him off my ship as soon as we make harbor!"

"I give him a fortnight before he’s running the galley," Vex said in a stage whisper, and Percy nodded somber agreement, mouth twitching with laughter. 

A week after embarkation, Pike went down to the hydroponics bay and scrounged up a few handfuls of fresh produce, and scrambled out before Tiberius could catch her. No matter that she was captain - there were some battles that she just couldn't win head-on. 

She stashed the vegetables in the galley and went looking for Vax. She didn't find him on the bridge or in his quarters, and Vex, for once, didn't have a clue. Pike decided to try the engine room, but was held up midway by an unusual blockade. Percy was slumped in the middle of the corridor, legs stretched across the width, nose buried in a book; Pike tried staring at him with crossed arms and a severe captain's look for three full minutes, then gave up hoping he would notice. 

"Is there a REASON that you're blockading my corridor, young man?" Percy startled, dropping the book into his lap, and staring up at her with wide, almost frightened eyes. She relaxed, offering him a grin, and he started to scramble up. She flapped a hand at him to stay down. "No, it's fine. I'm looking for Vax."

"He's in the eagle's nest," Percy said, frowning a little. "It didn't seem like he wanted company, so I thought I'd read out here. He won’t let me touch anything in there without supervision." 

"Fine," Pike said, stepping over his outstretched legs, "but if Grog steps on you and breaks you, I don't want to hear about it." She turned into the engine room and looked around, and then up. Thirty feet up, on a repair platform near the top of the main engine, she could make out the indistinct blur of a dark shape. She sighed, and started up the ladder.

If Vax noticed her coming, he didn't give any sign of it. He was lying on his back, head resting on his arms, staring up into the dark. Pike pulled herself onto the platform and sat cross-legged beside him, looking up as well. There wasn’t much to see. 

"Thank you," Vax said after a while. He didn't look at her.

"What for?"

"Taking us on. Vex and me, I mean. I didn't think we'd find somewhere like this."

"You mean a ship that falls apart around your ears, where the captain works you shamefully for little pay?" Pike stretched back, letting the knots in her back release.

"We can see the stars," Vax said slowly. He sounded half asleep. "And Vex's never been so happy, not ever."

"As long as you two keep us afloat, you are more than welcome." She patted his shoulder absently, and he looked up at her, upside-down from her perspective. He looked so young that Pike could feel her age creeping up on her, and she stood up, putting it behind her. "And if I can get you to come down and cook dinner for us, you may be welcome even if you crash her." 

A smile crept slowly across his face, and Vax looked back up at the stars. "Aye aye, Captain."

They didn't often share dinner as a group. Scanlan was usually responsible for maintaining the ship’s course and systems while the rest took breaks, and the good doctor preferred to spend his time alone whenever possible. Grog tended to eat randomly throughout the day, as the urge struck him. Pike felt it was good practice to bring them all together for meal once a week or so, though, just to bring a bit of congeniality into relationships that could easily become workmanlike and sometimes antagonistic in the tight space of the little ship. This time, though, Tiberius was stubborn beyond his usual measure, and she hadn't been able to convince him to join them.

She had ordered everything made fast, locking systems down so that they could drift along without intervention from the crew for a while, and dragged her stubborn crew from their favored locations just in time for Vax to finish preparations. They'd never shared a meal with a passenger before, but Percy had managed to work his way into the functioning of their little ship surprisingly easily, especially given his penchant for disappearing at moments when he might have been in the way. The kid seemed to have well-honed instincts for when he ought to make himself scarce.

Vax had done an amazing job on the food, as always, and Pike gave him an approving nod, knowing he would have his eyes on her reaction first. 

"Where'd you learn to cook, anyway?" Scanlan asked, reaching across the narrow table to serve up a spoonful of mashed potatoes. "I’ve not seen many people familiar with preparing fresh produce this far from a land-based harbor."

Vax shrugged, and Vex gave him a crooked grin. "We all have our secrets," he said lightly, and Vex elbowed him.

"Modesty, Vax? Doesn't suit you.” She grinned at her brother. “He learned as a kid, looking after me. We'd snatch what we could - not things that anyone ever minded us having, you understand, but it was more exciting that way - and then Vax figured out how to make it edible." She snatched up a spoon of the rich stew Vax had concocted out of Pike's ingredients, and gestured enthusiastically with it, nearly sloshing stew across the table. "Stolen Things Stew. My favorite!" Vex's hand came up in a blur of motion to ruffle her brother’s hair affectionately, and from the corner of her eye, Pike saw Percy watching the scene intently, like he was trying to figure out what the gesture meant.

"Oh! Meant to tell you," Vax said, inclining his head toward Vex, easily shutting the rest of them out. "I got word today that Varian and Vitaly are gone! Dropped anchor in the night and fled, they say - with girls!" He looked stunned, and possibly a little amused, by this news, and Vex cackled. 

"Think Old Vessar will lose it again?" she asked, and seemed to do an imitation of some sort of elephant. The rest of the group, used to their shenanigans, ignored the twins, but Percy was watching them with rapt attention. 

"So what about you?" Scanlan asked sharply, turning his attention to Percy. He dropped his spoon awkwardly into his bowl, looking cornered, and Pike gave Scanlan's foot a light tap with hers. Go easy, she tried to communicate, and he raised an eyebrow minutely at her. He understood. "Are you as much of a reprobate as our favorite evil twins here?"

"Not evil," Vax muttered through a mouthful of stew.

"Not always, anyway," Vex said thoughtfully, still snickering a bit. Everyone ignored them. 

"I try not to be, usually," Percy said with a little twisted smile, "but I suppose it depends who you ask." 

"No petty produce theft for you?" Pike asked, quirking her head to the side.

"Not usually - although there was one time on the Abundant Terrace when I couldn't resist the temptation, and I snuck an apple." Percy laughed a little, toying with his spoon. "Best thing I've ever tasted, though. I don't regret it!"

"Hold hard," Vex said, leaning forward. "YOU'VE been to the Terrace?" 

"I thought it was a myth!" Vax said, his surprise echoing the expressions that could be seen around the table. 

"Not a myth," Pike said slowly, digesting the new information, "just very, very exclusive.” 

"They say there's real grass there," Vex said wistfully, eyes growing distant. "And you can see the sun right up in the sky, without glass between you - and that the air moves."

"It does," Percy replied quietly. The twins were both looked at him intently, drinking in the secondhand memories. "And the feeling of earth under your feet - I can't explain it. It's nothing like the decks, or even like a garden in a big hydroponics bay. It's warm, and it smells alive."

"But doesn't the sky just go up forever?" Vax asked. "Nothing between you and the stars but the air?"

Scanlan chuckled indulgently. "Are they not teaching you young people about planetary atmospheres anymore?"

"Why bother?" Pike said, stabbing at a chunk of carrot with excessive vigor. "The Abundant Terrace is the only successful terraforming project, and you don't see Earth coming back to finish the job on the other moons, do you? Why do children need to learn about things they'll never see?"

"But why can't we?" Vax asked, leaning forward. "Why couldn't we just go back to Earth and get them to help? Or just stay and live free, there?"

"Were you raised by Poxers?" Scanlan asked, laughing genially. "I thought everyone knew. Even if you wanted to go live in the middle of the warzone, Earth won't take Jovian refugees."

"We've been cast off," Grog told them matter-of-factly. He never had much to say until he’d finished eating, but now he put his fork down with a heavy thump. "Our grandparents and great-grandparents came out here to Jupiter’s moons for new lives and freedom. Ended up locked away in these floating tin cans, though. They say that once the Pox hit, Earth and Mars had plenty of reason to decide we were too dangerous to bother with. Try getting close to the inner system, and you'll find yourself in more pieces than you could scoop back up." It was a long speech for Grog, and Pike nodded approvingly at him. 

"But the Pox isn't contagious anymore!" Vex argued, looking unreasonably annoyed. She flicked her long, dark braid back over one shoulder and leaned in close. "To deny us freedom because of a disease that we don't even carry any longer is the most close-minded, ignorant thing I've-" 

"So we go somewhere else!" Vax interrupted, talking over his sister and shooting her a dark look. "Why stay here, buried underground and floating in the dark? We’ve plenty enough people to support a colony, now."

Percy shook his head. "We'd never get there. If we set off now, in our fastest ships, it would be - well, it would be generations before our descendants reached the closest stars. There's no guarantee of what they would find, either. Until we achieve faster than light transport, we're contained to our own system." It was soberly spoken, and Pike thought the boy sounded like he knew something of being trapped; there was a dark undercurrent to his words. 

"Ahh, are you an FTL theorist?" Scanlan asked, turning to look at Percy directly. He looked uncertain, but nodded slowly. 

"I don't think we should give up on the prospect," he said with careful precision, toying with the edge of his napkin. "If we achieved it, the whole universe would be open to us. We wouldn't have to be trapped."

Scanlan clapped a sympathetic hand on the boy's shoulder. "We all know that feeling," he said warmly. "I wish it were possible! It's such a magnificent idea - if only it didn't contradict everything we understand about the nature of the universe."

"I know Jones and Pritchard have published extensively about the impossibility, but I don't think we should simply accept it!" Percy insisted, face turning pink. "Jones may be the most famous scientific mind of the century, but he's not the only person who has worked on the problem, and not everyone agrees with him!"

"Gentlemen," Pike interrupted with good humor. They both quieted. "As pleased as we are to have you aboard, Percy, I'm going to have to ask that you do not talk FTL science with Scanlan, or we will never be finished with hearing about it!" The twins laughed, nodding in agreement, and Scanlan rolled his eyes.

"Just because you've got no scientific curiosity, Pike, doesn't mean the rest of us can't take an interest!"

"Well, I think we'd better call the matter amiably put on hold for the time being," she declared, and sheepish smiles from both Percy and Scanlan seemed to close the matter.

"Yes!" Vex said eagerly, leaning in again. "I'm much more interested in hearing about the Terrace, and how we can get there!" 

Pike frowned. "I don't think we can. I always thought you had to be nobility or the like to make landfall."

"Not exactly," Percy said bitterly, eyes dark. "Enough money will do the same thing for you. Buying your invitation is a common tradition among the merchants and bankers, at least at a certain income level."

"Are you a merchant, then?" Scanlan asked. Pike was impressed by the smoothness of the question, the ease with which Scanlan pressed for information. She would have to remember his skills at subtle interrogation and information gathering for the future. 

"Hardly!" Percy's voice cracked on a sharp laugh. "I was - well, I'd rather not get into it, but I was in the company of people who could buy as many invitations as they wanted."

"You've got a secret past, haven't you?" Vex asked, gleeful. Vax elbowed his sister hard, and Vex slapped his arm in return. "No, he does! I want to hear all about it!" 

"Shut up!" Vax hissed, going red with embarrassment. "You can't ask people things like that!"

"Are you on the run from diamond smugglers?" Vex asked, ignoring her brother and leaning forward with a brilliant, evil grin. "Or did you steal something from a black market? Is someone after you?"

Percy was looking coolly amused, but there was an undercurrent of something that reminded her of an animal caught in a trap. Pike made herself sit back, letting things play out. Children would be children, after all; at least that was what her grandfather had said, when she and Grog had gotten into their spats. 

"No!" Percy insisted, "I doubt anyone's even noticed I've gone. I'd sort of love to cause enough trouble to warrant that kind of attention, but I haven't figured out what to do yet."

"What is it, then?" Vax asked, his curiosity apparently overcoming his manners. He leaned his elbows on the table and cupped his chin in his hands, leaning unselfconsciously toward Percy. "You can tell us," he said quietly, tipping his head quickly in Vex's direction to include her in the secret. "We're fantastic at keeping things quiet, ourselves." Scanlan's foot hit Pike's leg at that, and she darted him a quick look. She'd picked up on that as well; now it looked like Scanlan might have to look into some more backgrounds for her. 

"It sounds stupid," Percy protested, flushing a brilliant pink. The twins leaned forward, eager to hear. "Fine. I'm running away from my fiance, alright?"

"Ohhh," Vex said slowly, nodding in understanding. "Horrible, is she? I bet she's got warts and is old and unpleasant!"

"No! Don't say that!" Percy said quickly, though he seemed surprised at his own vehemence. "No, she's actually lovely, and only a few years older than I am. She's very clever, and really quite gorgeous."

"Is she after your family money?" Vax guessed, eyes narrowed in concentration. "Because I understand that's often a concern-"

"No, no," Percy contradicted him firmly. "She's brilliantly rich - I'm the one who hasn't got a penny!"

"So," Pike said slowly, "you are running away from your rich, beautiful, brilliant fiancee."

"That's about the size of it," Percy said with a sheepish laugh, running a hand through his still shocking white hair. "I said it sounded stupid. I don't think I can really explain it to anyone who doesn't know the whole situation. It’s not the only reason I've left, and I love her in my own way, really I do, but - I just can't marry her."

"Well, you're quite young yet," Scanlan said warmly. "You've got some time before you have to worry about settling down. How long until you're of age, lad?" Another subtly put question, and Percy didn't even blink at answering.

"A fortnight actually, which is why I'm running now. We're meant to get married as soon as I'm eighteen."

Vex shuddered. "Catch them anchoring me down that young, no thank you! I'd run too - and I have." She twirled a spoon absently through her fingers, grinning as it caught and flashed the light. "Hell, seventeen is too young for me, too! I figure on running until I'm too old and tired to go on!"

"Eat your vegetables," Vax grumbled indulgently, shoving at the back of his sister’s head, "or you'll get scurvy and never live to get old at all."

Everyone laughed at that, and the question of Percy's secrets was set aside for the moment - but Pike exchanged a look with Scanlan, and she knew they had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a blast with this, and I'm quite pleased by the progress of the story so far. I'd love to hear any thoughts you guys might have! Or come find me (same username) on Tumblr and we can be Critter buddies! Hope you guys are enjoying the story!


	5. Chapter 5

The primary solar sail failed, ten days out from Emon.

Pike was asleep when it happened, and didn’t know what had awoken her, at first. It didn’t take long for her to feel that something was very wrong with her ship, though; she was on her feet and running in seconds. She made it to the engine room in record time, smashing her shoulder hard against the wall on her way in.

“Vax! What the hell happened?” she shouted into the blackness above. He didn’t answer, but the torrent of shocking profanity that floated down to her let her know that her engineer was aware of the problem. She pounded a fist on the side of the engine in frustration.

“What’s going on?” Scanlan called over the intercom. “We’re sitting ducks out here! We can’t be dead in the water this far from any Harbor.” He was deadly serious, for once, and Pike shivered - and then gave a sharp cry of shock as she was lifted up and jerked aside, only to be put down gently.

“Sorry, little buddy,” Grog rumbled. “Me and Vax have a problem to fix, and you can’t be sitting in the middle of it.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Pike demanded, grabbing hold of his sleeve and not letting go. Scanlan was right. A becalmed ship was a dead ship - nothing more than a feasting ground for pirates, out in the black. She ran the calculations in her head, fast; too long to reach any of the Harbors, let alone one of the moons, before they’d be yet another cold tin can full of corpses floating in space. “Grog, can you fix them?”

“- the _fucking_ lines, I _told_ you they couldn’t take that much strain!” Vax shouted down, sounding near panic.

“Should have taken a reef first,” Grog admitted sheepishly. “I woulda listened if Kima told me that.”

“Just fix it,” Pike begged. “We’ll deal with your trust issues with Vax later!”

“If we can.” Grog looked at her solemnly for a moment, and then pulled away so gently Pike’s heart hurt a little.

“Get my sister flying!” Vax called down. “I can talk her through what we need to do to avoid tearing the sails!”

Pike nodded sharply and took off, heading out again at such speed that she couldn’t avoid hitting Percy as she came around the corner. He crashed into the bulkhead behind him, looking startled. “Outta the way,” Pike ordered. “We’ve got an emergency!”

“I know. I want to help.”

“Not the time,” Pike snapped. She’d be patient later, when her ship wasn’t tearing itself to shreds.

“I rather think it is.” There was something so coolly certain in his voice that she hesitated a moment. “I know engines. I know how they work, how they’re rigged, what they’re meant to do. I daresay I know more about the systems than you do. I can help, if they’ll let me. I know I can.”

Pike threw up her hands and jerked her head towards the open door. “Fine. Do what you can, but don’t get in the way.” He took off, and so did she, racing toward Vex’s room with feet that pounded horribly against the floor with each step. _Please_ , she prayed as she ran. _Watch over us now. There are things we still have to do!_

Vex was just emerging when Pike pounded up to her, and took off for her post before she could give more than a few words of explanation. Pike was left standing in the middle, unsure whether to follow Vex or return to the engine room.

The sudden shift of course made up her mind for her, and she hurried along to the bridge in time to see Vex hard at work, making minute alterations to their course and speed as she talked to her brother over a headset. Pike could make out nothing but nonsensical murmurs, but her pilot seemed confident in her actions. As Pike crossed her arms tightly over her chest, biting her lip in concentration, Scanlan put a silent hand on one shoulder, anchoring her. There were no words on the bridge for an unreasonably long time - and then Vex gave a crow of laughter, sweeping off her headset to let her hair fly loose as she sat up properly.

“Now that was flying!” Vex said, grinning bright and wild. Beneath their feet, the deck gave a little shudder, and then there was a hum of energy that nearly brought tears to Pike’s eyes. They were flying. She collapsed in her seat, shaking her head in wonder. Somehow, they had done the impossible again.

“Now, my dear Pike,” Scanlan said, wicked mischief twinkling in his eyes as the crisis passed. “What is a man to think, when you come rushing in so intemperately in the middle of the night? And more importantly, what will the crew think of us afterwards?”

She was too relieved to do more than laugh.

After that night, there was a definite sense on the Vox Machina that their new crew had found their feet. Vex flew with even greater cocky panache, Grog had decided it was worth at least listening to Vax, and Vax and Percy were full of a thousand plans for improving the ship’s systems. Pike found Percy climbing around the masts with Vax more than once, when they weren't larking around atop the eagle's nest. She shook her head and kept moving the day she found them literally racing up Vax's jury-rigged lines, laughing and teasing one another as they climbed toward the stars.

Pike had to go after Grog herself, eventually, but that wasn’t a surprise. She pushed her way into his little room one day after he’d had a good meal, making herself comfortable on the floor. Grog gave a heavy sigh and joined her, their folded-up knees nearly touching in the confined space. With anyone else it would have been awkward.

“Well, okay,” Pike said after a while. She smiled up at her erstwhile brother. “So what have you decided about Vax?”

He took a long time to consider his answer. “I still don’t trust ‘im.”

“Do you need to trust him in order to work with him?”

“It’s not his knowledge, now,” Grog admitted grudgingly. “‘Knows what he’s talking about, and he does his share of work. I just can’t stop waiting for him to-”

“What?” she asked gently after a while.

“He looks at me like all the kids used to,” Grog burst out after a moment. “Like he’s just waiting for me to attack, or get violent, and so he’s going to wait for his moment and make the first move!”

And that, finally, made sense. Grog hadn’t had it easy, growing up big in the ships. Kids could be cruel, especially to those who didn’t have families of their own. She remembered the aftermath of too many fights, of Grog left bruised and bloody somewhere at the hands of older kids who said he was using more than his share of resources. If her grandfather hadn’t been in a powerful enough position to offer him protection, she was certain he would have ended up dead.

Or a pirate.

She shied away from that thought, and reached out to grab his hands with both of hers. “He’s not like that,” she said gently. “And even if he was, you’re three times his size. It’s him who’s scared here, you know.”

And Grog accepted that, because it was Pike who said so.

Two weeks out from Emon Harbor, the three youngsters could often be found in the kitchen late into the evening, after the older crewmembers had finished their work for the night. Percy was teaching the twins some form of card game that Pike wasn't familiar with, but it had them in peals of laughter that often had to be hushed late at night.

One evening, though, the noises coming from the kitchen were less cheerful, and Pike paused on her way to bed, hesitating by the door to get a sense of what the young people were talking about.

"I don't hear you talking much about your family, either!" Percy was saying, voice slightly raised. He sounded annoyed.

"Well, no!" Vex said with an easy laugh. "You wouldn't want to, if you knew them! Vax's the only one that's tolerable."

"Thanks for that." Vax elbowed his sister.

"Besides, we already know about our family, so there's no amusement to be had talking about them. Yours has got to be more exciting!"

"Don't push," Vax reprimanded, voice barely above a whisper.

"But I'm bored!" Vex whined. "C'mon, Percy, tell! How's a nice boy like you wind up running away from his fiancee and hiding out on a broken-down little ship like this?"

"It's really none of your business," Percy said tightly.

"Come now, darling, don't be dull! Why isn't your family looking for you? Or are they, and you're in hiding here?" Vex laughed, leaning forward across the table. "Or did you kill them all and escape from the law to hide here until you can change your name and emigrate to Earth?"

There was a dull thud as Percy's fist hit the surface of the table, and he looked ready to explode. "Would you shut up?" Vax muttered, but it was too late. Percy looked furious, dark eyes wide and dangerous.

"I said it's none of your business, nor anyone else's! What I do is my concern!" Percy's voice was low and dangerous, tightly controlled. "Everyone always wants to know about me and my family and my secrets, and none of them have ever given a damn about the answers! You ask and ask, and when I tell you something, you ignore my words to make up an answer you like better!"

"Well, if you weren't so secretive in the first place, I wouldn't have to!" Vex shot back, her face reddening.

"I'm entitled to a bit of privacy, aren't I? Why does everything I do have to be dissected and evaluated for truth?" Percy swiped a hand across the table angrily, scattering the playing cards to the floor. "You can ask and pry all you like, but I'll be gone in a few days, and you'll never see me again. You two, flying around on a ship like this, and me heading into who the hell knows what - there's no reason to think we'll ever meet again. One or all of us will likely be dead within a year, and then what will any of it have mattered?"

"It only matters if it matters now," Vax said quietly, conciliatory. His hand was tight around his sister’s wrist, warning, consoling. "You're right. We probably won't ever see you again - but right now, you're here and we're here. Why not enjoy it?"

"How can I?" Percy snapped. "You haven't got a clue who I am, and yet you still badger me!"

"Try ignoring my sister?" Vax replied, offering a sheepish smile. "She forgets that other people have actual emotions, sometimes, in her eagerness to understand them."

"Yeah, I get that," Percy said, giving in a little, and shrinking back in his seat with a long, low sigh. "My sort-of sister is the same way."

"People are boring, darling," Vex said with an expansive shrug, sliding down to slouch against the back of her chair. "Nowhere near dangerous enough. Give me a ship any day, and let me fly!"

"That's where you're wrong, storin," Vax said fondly. "You only think that because you don't pay attention. People are far more dangerous."

Percy had calmed now, and was looking at Vax curiously. "What's that word? Storin?"

Vex frowned. "My brother is excessively sentimental and old fashioned. Nobody else uses the old words anymore."

"No, but I've heard that," Percy said, looking puzzled. "A long time ago, maybe?"

"It's an old endearment," Vax said, grinning at the clearly embarrassed Vex. "Means treasure."

"Whatever," Vex grumbled - but she pried Vax’s hand off her wrist and pressed it to her cheek, and he smiled softly at her. "Anyway, I mean what I said."

"Which part of it?"

"Whatever you like," she said, and snickered as Vax yawned. "Unless it's a part that hurt someone's feelings, in which case please assume I'm sorry.”

“We’ve reached the vague apologies bit, so I'm going to bed." Vax stood up sharply and wandered out, raised an eyebrow at Pike, who was still listening in on the conversation with her arms folded. She jerked her head at him, shooing him down the hall, and he saluted cheekily and wandered away.

In the kitchen, Vex gave an awkward laugh and tried to run her fingers through her hair, winding up with them hopelessly tangled in her braid before giving up. "I didn’t mean to upset you, honestly, darling," she said sheepishly. “I’m used to trying to wind my brother up.”

"No, I - I shouldn't have let it get to me," Percy said, also sounding embarrassed. "I guess you just reminded me of Keyleth in some ways, and she can always get to me."

"But it sounds like you've got a lot of reasons to be angry." Vex leaned forward, dark eyes fixed on her reticent conversational partner.

"I - I get angry," Percy admitted. "I shouldn’t, of course. Everyone's got reasons, but I can't just shrug them off."

"Vax likes to try to make me mad, too," Vex admitted with a grin. "Doesn't usually work, though, unless it’s by wandering off when I’m trying to actually have a conversation with him. My faults lie in other areas, I’m afraid."

"You really love him, don't you?" Percy asked, and Pike thought he sounded very wistful.

Vex snorted. "He threw away his whole life to try to make me happy, and I’d do the same for him a hundred times. Take from that what you will."

"I've never had-" Percy started, then stopped, embarrassed.

"What?"

"Never had anyone care about me like that," he admitted, cheeks flushed a bright red. “Not in a very long time.”

"I'm certain you will," Vex said warmly. Percy shook his head.

"I'm not the kind of person that people love." He laughed, the sound bitter and too loud in the quiet of the sleeping ship. "I don't even know how long it will be before anyone at home notices that I'm gone."

"If it helps," Vex offered, "I'm going to miss you when you're gone. I've never really had a friend before, other than my brother, and I’m not really sure that counts." She hesitated a second and then reached across the table in a flash of motion, snatching Percy’s hand up in her own before he could object. “Might not let you leave. I’ll have to think about it.”

Pike grinned quietly and crept away, leaving the two to their conversation. She'd taken Percy on because she hadn't had a choice - but the results were better than she could have imagined. At this rate, she would have to consider taking on passengers more often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited some tags and whatnot this time around, guys, as I decided to bite the bullet and go for things. Broken space families made up of disaster children sometimes take a while to get themselves sorted out, just saying, and this story has twists and turns coming that I really don't want to spoil yet, but there's a hint or two available now. Thank you so much for reading, if you are - sharing this is really important to me!


	6. Chapter 6

They were two days out from Vasselheim when Percy came by Pike's cabin to return a few books she had lent to him. She heard the tentative knock at her door, and shook her head, knowing that there was only one person aboard who would bother to knock at all, let alone to do it so quietly.

"Come in if you're coming," she called, and the door crept open a few inches until Percy's face peeked around the lintel.

"Sorry, is this a bad time?" he asked. Something in the slumped set of his shoulders raised Pike's curiosity and concern levels, and she set down the fuel report that she had been perusing, gesturing for him to come in. He did, shutting the door carefully behind him, as if the quick click of metal on metal was an offence.

"Not at all," she said. She didn't have a chair to offer him, as her cabin was as small and sparsely furnished as the rest of the crew's, so she slipped out of her own seat to sit cross-legged on the floor, gesturing for Percy to join her. He lowered himself to the ground with a controlled grace, curling his long limbs in tight to his body as he sat. "What's troubling you?"

"Well, I did want to return these books," Percy began, holding them out carefully, and not letting go until her grip on their fragile spines was secure. "And to thank you for the loan. I - I had rather forgotten how wonderful it was to lose oneself in a book."

"You haven't had much opportunity to read, then?" Pike asked. It surprised her. She had pegged him as one of life's natural readers, buried in a book at all times, but he shook his head.

"When I was young I was an insatiable reader, but - well, things changed, and books haven't been a part of my life for a while now." He looked wistfully resentful, if that were possible; the expression was striking, and damnable, in what it implied about his life.

"Well, I'm just glad to see them read by someone other than me," Pike said, trying to lighten the tone. She patted the books fondly, setting them aside. "But I don't think that's all you had on your mind."

Percy sighed, and curled in on himself a little tighter, wrapping his arms around his knees more securely. "No. It's a complicated problem, and I didn't mean to speak to you about it at all. I'm on a bit of a quest, I suppose you might say, and I didn't want to tell anyone where I was going. I still don't, to be honest."

Pike waved a hand. "You don't owe me anything - not even information. You've held up your end of the bargain so far, and I'll hold mine."

Percy frowned thoughtfully. "That's just it, though. I thought it was a business deal when we left Emon Harbor - you would ferry me, and I would pay you. And it is that, but I feel like it's more, as well. This ship and these people - they are special. I find that I want to trust you, and that I don't want to be entirely on my own - and both of those are very strange sentiments for me." He rubbed one hand restlessly against the knuckles of the other, though he didn't seem aware of the habit. "And because of that, I need to ask you another favor."

"I don't generally like being tethered to anyone that's not my crew," Pike began, but then sighed. She would lose that battle if she tried to fight it with herself. "Tell me, and then I'll decide."

"I'm looking for information about - about some things that people have worked very hard to keep from me. I'm not really supposed to know anything, and I expect there will be trouble once people figure out what I'm doing," Percy said quickly, words tumbling over each other. He was clearly angry, but it was contained under his facade of controlled politeness. "I've been collecting all the information I could manage for the last few years, but there's nothing more I can do now without going and looking for myself. But I don't want to lose what I have."

His hands stopped their restless motions, and he put his hand up to his neck, tugging gently on the thin silver chain around his neck.

"I've made copies of everything I found, for safekeeping," he said anxiously, fingers tightening around what Pike recognized as a miniature data storage device. "But I didn't have anywhere to keep it safe, if anything should happen. Will you keep it for me?"

She paused a long moment, thinking hard. If the information he had was anything like as dangerous as he was hinting, then she should refuse him straight away. She didn't owe him a thing, and she was not about to put the Vox Machina and her crew at risk for a handful of data files that she would never look at. On the other hand - he was seventeen, and clearly full of his own anxieties and worries - and what was the chance that his situation was anything like as dangerous as he thought? She had seen no evidence of pursuit, and Scanlan hadn't reported anything.

But Tiberius hadn’t come out of his room since meeting their passenger, and Percy and the twins seemed to share a fascination with secrets that had her nerves on edge...

Pike looked at the kid again, who was regarding her with dark, worried eyes, and clutching the device as though it held his heart. She nodded once, firmly, and put out her hand. "I'll watch it for you. You ever need it, you'll have to come find me, though. I'm not tracking you down."

Percy nodded rapidly, face lighting up as though handing her the device was lifting a physical weight from his chest. He dropped it into her hand. "I understand - and thank you. I don't intend to ever need to find it, of course, but I'll feel better knowing it's with you." He got up, stretching the stiffness of the floor from his muscles, and Pike followed suit. "Thank you again, for everything," he said, suddenly awkward and seventeen again, and Pike smiled indulgently, shaking her head.

"Off with you," she said, shooing him toward the door. "Go see if you can help Vax trim the sheets or whatever ridiculous project he's come up with this time. Or better yet, convince him to play a game of chess. Lord knows how I'm going to keep him from fiddling with things once you're gone."

Percy grinned back at her, looking younger than she had ever seen him, and was gone. The click of the door behind him was reassuringly loud, and she smiled. They might make a kid out of him yet.

The next day, Vex was at the helm, in her usual preferred slouch that made Pike's shoulders ache with sympathy. She was maintaining a low level of chatter with Vax over the intercom, but, as usual when the twins talked, most of it made no sense. A mixture of quick-fire technical terms, their own vocabulary, and a slew of inside jokes and references that she had no hope of understanding made it impossible to decipher anything but basic meaning. It made for inoffensive background noise while she worked on the fuel figures, though.

She circled her shoulders backward a few times, hoping to stretch some of the soreness out of her muscles, and pulled up their navigational plan. Vex's initial calculations had put them into one of Vasselheim's Harbors within the next forty-eight hours, and it looked like they were coming in right on target. She would have to check with Percy to see if he had a preference as to which Harbor they made; she would prefer to put into one of the smaller ones, hoping to avoid some of Vasselheim's excessive bureaucracy.

"Hold hard," Vex interrupted, her voice unusually high and tense. "Pike, come and have a look? I don't know what I'm seeing here."

Pike was behind Vex's shoulder in two steps, peering down at the readouts. It was brutally, unmistakably clear: they were being pursued.

"They can't be after us from law enforcement, can they?" Vex babbled, still speaking high and tight, nearly vibrating with tension. "They don't know that we're here!"

"Shut up," Pike said quickly, but clapped a hand on Vex's shoulder in defiance of her words. "Hold course and speed. Mr. Scanlan, I need you here NOW!"

Her voice carried through the intercom, and Scanlan responded from the other end, and then appeared on the bridge faster than she could quite believe.

"Captain?" he queried, calm as ever. She would have thanked him for that, were circumstances different.

"Pursuit," she said quickly, gesturing at the screens. "Four vessels, all slightly smaller than we are. No Colonial identifiers, but they're still a ways out."

"Closing fast!" Vex interrupted. "Vax, can we go faster?"

"Not unless you want to blow out the stabilizers for good!" Vax's voice echoed tinnily through the speakers, amplified by the roaring in the background as he pushed the engines harder.

Grog’s voice broke in, sounding unruffled. "We can’t outrun ‘em, Pike, and we shouldn’t try. Not if we want to keep flying after today."

"Noted," Pike snapped. "Vex, keep us STEADY. Don't do anything too fast or fancy. If they're lawmen, we'll only raise their suspicions, and if they're not, all your fancy flying won't help us much." She stepped back a few paces, and Scanlan came with her.

"Pirates?" he asked, voice low, and Pike shrugged.

"I don't know. We've got nothing a pirate would be interested in! We've never had an issue with them before, so why now? No, I don't want to guess. Maybe they're not even after us."

"Oh, they're after us," Vex called, and Pike grimaced. "Closing. Weapons range in about ten seconds." Her voice was shakier than ever, and Pike could see the tension in her shoulders as she hunched across the panel, struggling to keep her course. "What do I do?"

"Hold hard, Vex," Vax called across the com. "You’re always saying flying’s like breathing to you, remember? Just keep breathing."

Scanlan leaned in to say something, but Pike never heard it. The ship was shaken by a sudden sharp impact that knocked her to the floor. Pike rolled with it, coming back up to her feet without stopping, and saw that Scanlan had steadied himself across a console, and Vex was still clinging like a limpet to the pilot's controls.

"Pirates," Pike confirmed, feeling her heart rate pick up. "Damn them! We're not carrying anything of value!"

"You don't think our passenger-" Scanlan started, voice low, and Pike cut him off.

"Percy? I can't imagine why they'd be after a runaway kid." Something about his demeanor earlier, though - the way he had worried so much about what would become of his precious information - suddenly stirred a spark of curiosity.

"They're not after the ice," Scanlan said with assurance. "Fifty tons of block ice is no friend to any small hauler, and won't turn them a profit before it floods them out."

"Captain, I can't maintain!" Vex broke in, and Pike made her way to her side. She was struggling with the helm, and her eyes were wide and panicked. Pike blew out a slow breath, wasted a second wishing desperately that she had a combat-tested pilot at the helm, and clapped a firm hand on the girl's shoulder. She gestured at her screens, which showed the pirate vessels forming up around them, cutting off their path forward. "I can't go through them. I don't know why they haven't fired again - we're an easy target!"

"It was a warning shot," Pike said absently, ducking her head to the side to get a different perspective on the tactical situation. The nimble little pirate ships had cut them off in all directions. "They'll either contact us with demands or try to board. Either way, we've got no weapons, so our options are limited."

"No!" Vex said fiercely. "There has to be a way out. There's always a way." She glanced back and forth across the displays, eyes flickering across the streams of information with a scary intensity, and then nodded once, and threw herself at the controls. The ship lurched to the side, and then began the strangest set of maneuvers Pike had ever felt - jerking and darting one moment, spinning and gliding, almost dancing, the next.

"Vex, stop it!" Vax's voice came across the intercom, tiny and panicked. "She can't fly like this! You're going to blow out the whole-"

"We are not going to be trapped here," Vex said, low and tight. She didn't even blink, hands flying across the controls as her feet worked the levers below in a strange dance. "We're not trapped."

"Yeah, we are, kid," Pike said wearily. Vex's feats of flight might have been unpredictable, but the pirates hadn't so much as twitched. Their net had shifted enough to continue to contain Vox Machina, and now they were just waiting. "It's no good."

"It'll work!" Vex insisted, and gave a last desperate push, sending Vox Machina spiraling upward, headed for what looked like a weakness in the pirates' defensive line. For a second, Pike's heart leapt, seeing freedom. And then there was a muffled explosion somewhere in the heart of her ship, and Vax was shouting across the com, and they were spiraling out of control.

"Get us level!" Pike shouted in Vex's ear, and she nodded, lips pressed into a thin white line. She hooked her hands into the back of the pilot's chair and waited for what felt like an eternity, until finally they slowed and stopped. She could feel in the vibrations of the deck that something was wrong. Her ship wasn't breathing right.

"Vax?" Vex asked after a second, voice small and frightened. "What did I do?"

"Stabilizers and at least one thruster are gone," Vax reported. "Looks like the rest of the key systems are intact but overloaded from the surge. Give me long enough and I can probably patch her up and get us ashore."

"We don't have long enough," Scanlan said quietly. He had pulled up readings on the main exterior hatch, and flashed them up on the screen for everyone to see. "They're docking with us."

"Get everyone on the bridge," Pike said quietly, feeling as though she were freezing from inside. "Vax, you and Grog, too. I want us in as defensible a position as we can manage."

Scanlan made for the door, quick but steady. "I'll bring the doctor and Percy. Break out the small arms?" She nodded, and he was gone.

Pike made her way to the small arms locker on the side of the bridge, and quickly keyed it open, grateful to discover that her hands didn't shake. She considered her people quickly, and grabbed a few pieces from the locker, checking each for readiness. "Vex, over here," she ordered, and was gratified to see that the sharp tone seemed to put some life back in her pilot. Vex shot out of her chair and joined her by the locker, looking warily at the contents. "Do you know how to shoot?" Pike demanded.

Vex shook her head. "Only with some old projectiles, when I was a kid. Never even held a gun. Vax would never let me."

"Vax's got a working brain between his ears," Pike muttered darkly. "That's just as well. I don't want you shooting anyone. Take a knife, but only use it if you have to and if you're sure of your target." Vex nodded uncertainly and reached out for a dark leather-wrapped handle; when her fingers wrapped around it, Pike grabbed her hand, squeezing a little to add weight to her words. "Don't panic." She nodded again, a little more confidently, and Pike let go.

"Young woman, I am unimpressed." Tiberius came up behind them, face a cloud of grumpy indignation. "Your young pilot has ruined several hours of critical research with her showboating."

"Pirates, Doctor," Pike said firmly. "We're surrounded, and about to be boarded. I imagine you will not want a weapon?"

He looked startled, then settled into a firm stance, shoulders back, white head up. "I'm a doctor. I'll see to any injured, but I will not cause harm."

"Good enough," Pike said. She checked one pistol and shoved it into her belt holster, then peered into the chamber of another. "I _will_ cause harm, so be sure to stay out of my way."

Vax came in, face streaked with some kind of dirt or oil, and Pike waved him toward the small arms locker, and watched closely as he chose and checked a weapon. His deftness in handling it, and care in checking it, assured her that he knew what he was doing. "Do we have a plan, Captain?"

" _Don't Die_ about covers it, I think," she said, dark humor in the words. "Once we know what they want, we'll have a better idea."

"It's not the ice, is it?" Vax asked, strangely calm. She turned to look at him, and he stared back, eyes wide and bright. "Pirates are usually after gold or ransom, right? And we haven't got gold."

"It's probably ransom," Pike agreed, watching the young engineer.

"Lady, be good to us," Vex muttered, her slim fingers twisting anxiously around the handle of his knife.

"It's not going to happen," Vax said, holstering his gun and going over to Vex, where he placed one hand on each side of his sister’s head, tipping his own head down until their foreheads touched. It hadn't really occurred to Pike before how much taller Vax was, when Vex's impetuousness and laughter filled the room so easily that one barely noticed how short she really was. "Hear me, Vex. They won't take you. I'm not going to let that happen."

"And what's a young pup like you going to do against pirates?" Tiberius asked, giving a creaky old laugh. "Best to let them take what they want and go."

Grog barrelled in, grinning with the wild joy she sometimes saw in him at the most inappropriate times. He ignored all of the firearms, choosing a hand-axe that was meant for emergencies, and tested the weight, tossing it back and forth between his hands. Pike shivered.

Scanlan came back in, Percy close on his heels, and closed the main door to the bridge, sealing it for all the good it might do them. Scanlan moved to the arms locker, quickly selecting his armaments, while Percy stayed by the door with his arms wrapped around himself, looking at them all in some kind of shock. Pike went to him. The kid was almost white, tiny freckles standing out alarmingly against the pallor of his skin.

"They'll be coming through here in a minute," she said, without time for preamble or kind reassurance. "Are they after you?"

"P-pirates?" Percy asked, eyes wide and dark. She nodded impatiently. "I don't think so," he stammered, blinking rapidly. "They don't have any reason to. I don't have anything important."

"The information you told me you were collecting - you said there could be trouble," Pike pressed.

Percy put his hands up defensively, stepping back until his head hit the wall. "Trouble for me! I thought my godfather would come after me! It's not dangerous or anything. I'm not dangerous." He looked at her pleadingly.

"Right," Pike snapped, tired of talking about things when her ship was being violated. "Stick with Tiberius and stay out of the fighting. Grog, Scanlan, and I will take them on; Vax, watch our backs and keep the others out of the way."

She could hear voices now, too loud in the deathly hush that fell over the bridge. They were coming up from the main hatch, and didn't seem to be wasting much time along the way. The first thunderous blows against the door echoed through the bridge, and behind Pike, the little group huddled a little closer together. Scanlan was at her right elbow, and she could see the barrel of Vax's gun from the very corner of her left eye. She breathed out slowly and steadily, and raised her pistol, aiming with both hands.

_In all times of danger, Lady, be our defense_ , she thought silently, a desperate hope flung out into the void. And the hatch burst open under the blows and swung inward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we're off and running! Must be Thursday! Thanks for reading, you guys! <3


	7. Chapter 7

The bridge of the Vox Machina wasn't a particularly large space, and it was filled in seconds. The pirates rushed in like an evil, vile-smelling tide, and Pike pressed back toward her people, raising her gun higher and shouting.

"Hey! Get out! I warn you, we are armed, and prepared to defend our vessel!"

They didn't look particularly impressed by that, but it gave Pike a few seconds leeway to look around and take stock. There were ten ill-dressed brigands now ringing the front half of her bridge, all of them armed, and none of them looked happy to see her. They glanced among themselves, as if waiting for leadership, and Pike dared a slight step forward. "I mean it. You have two seconds to turn around and leave before we open fire."

"Ah, but that would put such a crimp in my plans!"

It was not a familiar voice, but it carried such a menacing amusement that her fingers tightened spontaneously on the handle of her gun, and she swallowed, keeping her face blank. It was the sort of voice that ordered you spaced without bothering to look at you.

"The social calendars of low-life bottom feeders are not really my primary concern," she shot back, and a warm laugh sounded through the hallway in response, joined by a chorus of amusement from the gathered horde. The ragged pirates pulled back from the entrance to the bridge, making way for their leader, and Pike had to exercise every ounce of control she possessed not to shoot the woman in the head.

"Now, this is no way to greet a guest, is it?" the pirate said, pouting playfully. She was as different from her horde of followers as Pike could imagine. Her clothes were clean and neatly pressed, hanging in crisp lines that were only disturbed by the bulges of what Pike knew must be hidden weapons. Her reddish-brown hair was caught up in a neat, severe style, and she was watching all of Vox Machina’s crew with a predatory gleam in her eyes.

Pike just lifted her gun a few inches, pointing it directly at her, and the pirate shrugged, dropping the coy attitude. "Not that I'm surprised. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain. A bit surprised to see a Trickfoot flying a ship like _this_ , but I do love what you've done with the place!" She gestured around at the walls of the ship, and Pike growled a little.

"I liked it better before someone decided to rearrange my doors," she snarled, and the intruder laughed again. It wasn't even an evil laugh - and that was the worst part of it. She sounded genuinely amused.

"What if we promise to put everything back the way we found it before we leave?" she asked, still grinning.

"What if you take your crew of scurvy-ridden leeches and leave my ship?" Pike bit out. At her side, Grog was tensed and ready to spring; she had to keep things contained or risk losing him to a suicidal attack.

"Oh, they're completely worthless," the woman agreed easily. None of her men looked surprised or insulted. "I like a crew that knows who's in charge. No worries about being mutinied against by this lot!" She grinned again, sharp and feral, and rested an arm on the shoulder of her nearest crewman, whose long dreadlocks looked nearly as bad as they smelled. To Pike’s surprise, the arm did not end in a hand, but in a crude iron hook. She really didn’t want to know what had happened to the missing limb. Space was as dangerous as it was dark. "But they're good shots, and know what's in it for them if they're obedient. I suppose I should introduce myself, though. Anna Ripley, at your service.”

“Great.” Pike didn’t blink. “Do me a service and leave, then.”

Ripley didn’t even respond to that. “I wonder how much better your lot are, though, Captain Trickfoot. We understand you’ve always traveled with an interesting assortment of crew, and that is to be expected on a ship like this. Your newest batch of misfits, though - are you running a nursery school, Pike?"

"I find talent wherever I can." Her tone was low and cold. Vex seemed ready to protest, but Vax had an iron grip on one shoulder, and the girl kept quiet. “Now. You’re on _my_ ship, where you are certainly not welcome, and you’re using up _my_ precious oxygen. What do you want with me?"

Ripley shrugged her arm off her man's shoulder and started walking the perimeter of the bridge nonchalantly. Her dark eyes were sharp as she stared at Pike's crew, and it was clear that she was after one of them. The twins? Percy? Or did one of her other trusted companions have secrets as well?

"Well, now, that is the question, isn't it? You see, rumor has it you picked up a very interesting little runaway, and certain people have a vested interest in their safe return." She stalked a little closer, and Pike moved to cut her off, lifting her gun into plain view. Ripley frowned. "Now, that's just not safe. Waving all these weapons around - someone could get hurt!"

Faster than Pike could react, Ripley and her men moved as a unit, and everything was chaos. Ripley dashed her gun from her hand, leaving Pike's fingers stinging, and had the cold, dull barrel of a gun against her throat in an instant. To her right, Scanlan had been disarmed as well, and knocked to the ground, three guns pointed at his head. Grog had fallen prone, unnaturally still, as though he were trapped in some sort of invisible net; Pike wasn't even certain whether he was breathing. Tiberius and the young folks were also disarmed, and pressed further back against the bulkhead, looking trapped. Percy was breathing hard, eyes wide and fists clenched at his sides. Ripley shook her head.

"I take it discipline and weapons training are not priorities for you, Pike. That's a problem for you. Of course, if you really wanted to protect yourself, you'd have had guns on your ship, like everyone else."

"I don't haul anything of value," Pike protested, breathing more heavily than she'd like, adrenaline surging almost painfully through her veins. "I'm barely making a living hauling ice, Ripley. Why would I arm myself?"

"Because," Ripley purred, "you attract such interesting young guests." She tossed her head at the man she'd been leaning on and he stepped up to hold Pike at bay while Ripley resumed her prowl toward the crew. "Now, I've got a name, but not a face to match it to," Ripley said thoughtfully. "Anyone want to volunteer and save me some trouble?"

There was a second, then two, of dead silence - and then Vax stepped forward, blocking the others from Ripley's view. "You're not taking anyone," he said evenly. "I don't care what my father has offered you."

"Vax!" Pike called, feeling frantic, "For Sarenrae’s sake, be quiet!" Ripley was looking at him curiously, eyeing him like a predator, and Pike flexed her aching fingers, wondering how much damage she could do the man next to her with her bare hands. _Now would be a great time for a bit of help_ , she prayed furiously, and she knew it would do no good.

Vax, in the middle of the circle of pirates, lifted his chin, looking somewhat more desperate than brave."We won't go with you willingly." And, as the pirates looked on with amusement, Vax brought up a hand from beside him and stabbed at Ripley with Vex's knife.

There was a quick flash, and a deafening shot, and then screaming - blood and screams, and Pike couldn't see past the man holding her at knifepoint. She used the confusion to land a glancing blow at his throat and dart forward, but he grabbed her arm in a bruising grip and held her still, bringing his knife up against her throat.

"Vax!" Vex screamed, and then kept shouting, a litany of abuse and desperation, until another gunshot came, and silence fell. Pike leaned as far to one side as she dared, desperate to get a look at the scene, but terrified of what she would see.

"Silence!" Ripley bellowed, shocking them all quiet. "One more scream, and I'll put the next bullet through his eye."

Vax was on the ground, curled in a fetal position around what seemed to be a gunshot wound in his stomach, and he looked to be in too much pain to do more than try to breathe around it. Vex was restrained by pirates, held back by both arms, and fighting to get to her brother, eyes wide with shock. Pike swallowed hard, heart pounding in her chest as she watched the blood pool on the ground around the boy.

"Let me through!" Tiberius demanded, fury in his wavering voice, and Pike saw Ripley nod. The old doctor shoved through the mass of people, dropping to his knees next to Vax with surprising agility. "Young fool," he murmured, taking in the situation with a stern, incisive glance.

"Brave and stupid," Ripley said, almost sounding regretful. She straightened out of her defensive crouch, holding a wad of fabric over what looked like a fairly deep cut across her forearm. "I'm almost impressed. You’re the first one to land a blow on me in many years. But stupid heroics don't do you any good, boy, when you're not even the person we're after." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Although if your father's got some kind of reward out for you and your sister..."

"You're not taking them!" Pike shouted, trying to pull away from the man who held her immobile, but he didn't move. He pressed the knife a little closer, the dull pressure a reminder that she didn't have much room to maneuver. "Don't you touch them!"

"Well, it's certainly not my first plan," Ripley said rationally. She stepped forward, walking past Vax, who was now gasping, sobs of pain rasping painfully through the back of his throat. Vex was hanging limply in the pirates' grasp now, tears streaming down her face, eyes locked on her brother. "We're here for Percival de Rolo."

Pike felt the blood drain from her face as her limbs went cold. "De Rolo?" she choked, and Ripley turned around, eyes sharp and curious.

"You didn't know!" she said after a minute, slow and thoughtful. "You didn't know you had de Rolo on your boat! That's the best thing I've ever heard!" She laughed, an edge of malice to the sound. "Let me guess. You were hard up for repairs on this worn out old tub, and young Percival showed up with money you just couldn't refuse, and that desperate orphan thing going for him. I don't think you asked any questions at all!"

"De Rolo." Pike repeated, feeling completely lost. "On my ship."

"Just be glad it's me who found you!" Ripley grinned. "Anyone else, and you'd be dead already."

"Forgive me for not celebrating," Pike gritted. Ripley ignored her.

"And this must be the boy in question!" Ripley said, rounding on Percy, who was huddled back against the hull, eyes huge and dark and terrified. He was staring at Vax, and Pike doubted if he'd heard a word that had passed between them. "Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III?" she said, her voice slow and deliberate. She moved closer, getting right up in his face, and Percy blinked, seemingly coming back to himself.

"Yes. No! No, I'm-" he stumbled over his words, and Ripley chuckled, reaching out to tousle his odd white hair in a mock-affectionate way.

"Oh yes, Pike, I see how he played you. All big eyes and innocence, and he had you carrying the biggest prize cargo in the system." She pinched Percy's left cheek, and he winced, looking away and down at the deck - and caught a proper glance of Vax, his head coming up again sharply.

"No!" he spat, lunging forward. The shocked spell that had held him in place after Vax's shooting was clearly broken now, and there was a fury in his eyes that took Pike aback. "I did not sail with them under false pretenses-" he started, and Ripley slapped him offhandedly.

"Don't contradict me, my boy," she said dangerously. "You'll find that no-one speaks back to me on my ship."

His eyes flashed, and Percy sprang at her, all fury and flailing fists. "I'm not yours! I'm not anyone's!" He landed a blow to her midsection, and Ripley doubled over. In an instant, two of her men were on him, twisting his arms behind his back, and the taller of the men wrapped his arm around the boy's neck, holding him immobile. He kicked at both of them, but they avoided his feet easily, and the tall man tightened his grip.

"Let him go! He's not on your ship, and he's not going to be!" Pike spoke up, trying to sound certain when she was still reeling from the revelation. "I've promised him safe passage to Vasselheim."

"Oh, you don't want to go there!" Ripley drawled. "You’re sure to hate all that regulation. I'll save you a trip." She pinched Percy's cheek again with what looked like painful force, laughing as he growled at her. He looked desperately at Pike, terror mixed with fury in his face, and she stifled a flash of panic herself. Nobody else was moving or speaking; was she the only one capable of keeping her wits together, or did they all just place so much faith in her that they were willing to go along with Pike on this terrifying ride?

"Ripley, don't do this," Pike said, allowing a note of pleading to enter her voice. "I don’t know what he’s worth to you, but we can make you another offer. I gave my word."

"And the word of a Trickfoot counts for so much?" Ripley asked. She was so controlled that the smile she offered was probably calculated to an exact degree. "Look, I know you’re a Captain, such as it is on a ship like this, and I know that Captains like being in control, so I'll let you make the choice, shall I?" She pulled her pistol out with her one remaining hand, and aimed it down toward Vax and Tiberius. "Here’s my offer. I take de Rolo and leave the rest of you in peace, or I kill your funny little twins here and now, disable your ship, and leave you all floating along with their corpses. Forever."

Pike's head was spinning, the ground below her feet dropping away. Percy - and Vax and Vex and Tiberius and Grog and Scanlan, and Ripley with guns on all of them, and a knife at her throat. She wanted to be ill.

"Captain, we don't have a choice," Scanlan said, still on the floor, still at the mercy of Ripley's men. "You can't get us all out of this one."

"De Rolo's made his choices," Tiberius rasped, hands covered in Vax's blood as he struggled to work on his wound; Vax was still now, hopefully just unconscious from pain and shock, and Vex was frozen, face streaked with tears. "We all have to live with the things we've done. He put us all in danger being here."

"I didn't mean to!" Percy said desperately. His breathing was fast and shallow, near hyperventilation if Pike was any judge. "Please, Pike, I didn’t mean any harm!"

"Oh, this is fun!" Ripley said viciously, eyes alight. "Captain's choice. Who do you save? Choose quickly, or I'll make it even easier." She stepped closer to the twins, pointing her gun directly at Vax's head.

Pike closed her eyes, thinking frantically, and trying not to feel. There was no doubt in her mind - Ripley was dead serious in her threat, and would get a twisted pleasure out of killing her crew just because she could. That one element was certain. If she choose Percy, or if she didn't act at all, the twins were dead. On the other hand, consigning Percy to Ripley's dubious mercies - she shuddered. Whatever she intended for Percy certainly wasn't going to be pleasant, but the fact was that she wanted to take him alive; hopefully, that meant that he would stay alive.

Without an engineer and a pilot, they would have no hope of repairing the ship and bringing her to harbor. Without Percy, they wouldn't have the funds to repair the Vox Machina once they reached a shipyard. She opened her eyes and looked at the young people again, thoughts hard and diamond-bright. Percy was young and innocent, but he was a fighter. He would have a chance, even if Ripley took him. Today was not the day to start burying the children of the Vox Machina.

"Please," Percy said again, his voice small and choked with fear as the anger faded away, leaving him facing the truth in front of him. She swallowed hard, and looked away.

"Take him." The words came out flat and hard, and Pike thought she might choke on them. Ripley stopped, turning to look at her. She didn't repeat herself.

Ripley lowered her gun slowly and jerked her head toward the huge, bearded man who was still holding Percy in a stranglehold. "Secure him," she said absently, not taking her gaze off of Pike. "Interesting choice, Pike. Crew before all else, is it? Can't keep her afloat without them?" Pike didn't answer, knowing her fury would translate better through her glare than any words she might try. Ripley held her gaze for a moment longer, then looked away, shrugging. "Well, I've got what I came for, so I'll leave you in peace. Anything we need to pick up on the way out?" she asked Percy.

His hands had been bound behind him, and he was still struggling against the man who held him. The question startled him and he stilled. He swallowed hard a few times, eyes huge in his pale face, and shook his head. "No, I - there's nothing." He lifted his eyes quickly to stare at Pike, and she thought he must be thinking of what he had entrusted to her. "I have nothing."

Ripley shrugged and turned away, leading her men to the door. The bearded pirate dragged Percy along as he stumbled over his own feet, and he paused for a moment to look back.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, glancing at Vax, then back at Pike. "I am so sorry." The pirate planted a broad hand between the boy's narrow shoulders and shoved hard, knocking him against the frame of the door, and then he was gone. The other pirates followed away, drifting out slowly, and leaving the crew behind like sea-creatures trapped ashore with the going out of the tide. The pirate who had held Pike left last, lingering in the doorway until the others were well away, and then following without a backward glance. They were no threat now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks. Sorry for the brief delay in content updates! Real life is the worst, sometimes. But hopefully a decent dose of action here will make up for it!
> 
> Seriously, thank you for reading. Screaming out into the void is a great sort of therapy, but knowing that other people are hearing and getting something out of it as well is even better. More to come, hopefully very soon! <3

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuses for this. I just finally seem to have found a fandom that cried out for space pirate AU, and I am never one to resist the call of duty. 
> 
> Please note - I am happily mangling canon timelines and ages for the sake of story. I'll try to make everything as clear as possible as I go!
> 
> I have two writing speeds - frantic and dead - and I'd say you can expect frequent updates on this. I'm having a blast writing it, and I would absolutely love to scream about my little broken family and how much I love them, if you'll allow it. Hoping this finds friendly ears out there in the black!


End file.
